During my commute to work this morning (one in which I had to employ an undignified penguin-like shuffle to avoid slipping on the veneer of ice covering Boston’s sidewalks), I realized that the next two months are unarguably the worst time of the year.  There are no redeeming qualities of January and February, with the exception of a couple of Monday holidays.

In other words, we need to grab life in the palms of our hands and squeeze out whatever joy and optimism we can.  Here’s something to consider: the Red Sox bullpen for 2009.

It appears that the Sox are looking at adding another arm to the fray after acquiring Ramon Ramirez and Wes Littleton.  According to Nick Cafardo, they have made an offer to former Dodgers closer Takashi Saito.  Saito is older than dirt (will be 39 on Valentine’s Day) and an injury risk (suffered an elbow injury last season), but the guy has been one of the most effective relief pitchers in baseball over the past three seasons (229 ERA+).

As it currently stands, assuming a 12 man pitching staff, the 2009 Boston bullpen is looking like this:

1. Jonathan Papelbon: 10 K/9, 1 BB/9, 198 ERA+
2. Hideki Okajima: 8.7 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 177 ERA+
3. Justin Masterson: 54.3% ground balls, 146 ERA+
4. Manny Delcarmen: 8.7 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 141 ERA+
5. Ramon Ramirez: 8.8 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, 162 ERA+
6. Javier Lopez:  51.1% ground balls, 190 ERA+
7. Mystery Arm (Littleton, Aardsma, Saito, ect…)

Several things could happen to change this dynamic:

1) The Sox could decide to use Justin Masterson as a starting pitcher in 2009, which would open up an additional bullpen spot for one of the fringe guys such as David Aardsma, or a new aquisition such as Saito.  I’ll have more on this option later in the week.

2) A trade could occur.  The Sox are reportedly looking for a big bat via trade, and likely bargaining chips are the cost-controlled Masterson and Delcarmen.  This would obviously create more open spots in the pen.

Either way, it appears that the Sox will carry a formidable group of arms in 2009.  This is a ray of light in what has thus far been an underwhelming offseason.

2 Responses to “Bullpen Looking Strong for ’09”

1. Bottom Line Rob says:

   1/8/2009 at 12:36 pm

   Nice breakdown Jimmy.

   The pen does indeed look strong and personally, I think Smoltz could help us there as well.

   I think we might also see Bowden find his way into the bullpen in the second half. He has a different makeup than Masterson, but the Sox have been prone to call up the kids and stick them in the pen.

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   Thanks and keep up the good work!